Diarrhea is a leading cause of antibiotic consumption among children in low- and middle-income countries. While vaccines may prevent diarrhea infections for which children often receive antibiotics, the contribution of individual enteropathogens to antibiotic use is minimally understood. We used data from the Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) to estimate pathogen-specific incidence of antibiotic-treated diarrhea among children under five years old residing in six countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia before rotavirus vaccine implementation. GEMS was an age-stratified, individually-matched case-control study. Stool specimens were obtained from children presenting to sentinel health clinics with newly-onset, acute diarrhea (including moderate-to-severe and less-severe diarrhea) as well as matched community controls without diarrhea. We used data from conventional and quantitative molecular diagnostic assays applied to stool specimens to estimate the proportion of antibiotic-treated diarrhea cases and was the leading etiology at ages 24-59 months. Our findings should inform the prioritization of vaccines with the greatest potential to reduce antibiotic exposure among children.Campylobacter is the leading bacterial cause of gastroenteritis worldwide and its incidence is especially high in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Disease epidemiology in LMICs is different compared to high income countries like the USA or in Europe. Children in LMICs commonly have repeated and chronic infections even in the absence of symptoms, which can lead to deficits in early childhood development. In this study, we sequenced and characterized C. jejuni (n = 62) from a longitudinal cohort study of children under the age of 5 with and without diarrheal symptoms, and contextualized them within a global C. jejuni genome collection. Epidemiological differences in disease presentation were reflected in the genomes, specifically by the absence of some of the most common global disease-causing lineages. As in many other countries, poultry-associated strains were likely a major source of human infection but almost half of local disease cases (15 of 31) were attributable to genotypes that are rare outside of Peru. Asymptomatic infection was not limited to a single (or few) human adapted lineages but resulted from phylogenetically divergent strains suggesting an important role for host factors in the cryptic epidemiology of campylobacteriosis in LMICs.Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a neglected zoonosis caused by infection with the cestode Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato. We carried out a systematic literature review on E. granulosus s.l. human and animal (cattle, sheep, dog) infection in European Mediterranean and Balkan countries in 2000-2019, to provide a picture of its recent epidemiology in this endemic area. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Google Scholar and Open Grey databases were searched. Included cases were i) for humans, data from hospital records and imaging studies; ii) for dogs, data from necropsy and coprological studies; iii) for ruminants, cases based on slaughter inspection. The NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) classification was used to categorize extracted data in epidemiological units, defined as data referred to one NUTS2 (basic region) in one year time. Data were then aggregated to NUTS1 level (major regions), calculating the average incidence value of included epidemiological units. For prevalence studies covering ults also highlight the notorious problem of underreporting of E. granulosus s.l. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/tas-120.html infection in both humans and animals.Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) regulates synaptic plasticity in multiple ways, supposedly including the secretion of neuromodulators like brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Here, we show that neuromodulator secretion is indeed reduced in mouse α- and βCaMKII-deficient (αβCaMKII double-knockout [DKO]) hippocampal neurons. However, this was not due to reduced secretion efficiency or neuromodulator vesicle transport but to 40% reduced neuromodulator levels at synapses and 50% reduced delivery of new neuromodulator vesicles to axons. αβCaMKII depletion drastically reduced neuromodulator expression. Blocking BDNF secretion or BDNF scavenging in wild-type neurons produced a similar reduction. Reduced neuromodulator expression in αβCaMKII DKO neurons was restored by active βCaMKII but not inactive βCaMKII or αCaMKII, and by CaMKII downstream effectors that promote cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation. These data indicate that CaMKII regulates neuromodulation in a feedback loop coupling neuromodulator secretion to βCaMKII- and CREB-dependent neuromodulator expression and axonal targeting, but CaMKIIs are dispensable for the secretion process itself.Dynamic gene expression in neurons shapes fundamental processes in the nervous systems of animals. However, how neuronal activation by different stimuli can lead to distinct transcriptional responses is not well understood. We have been studying how microbial metabolites modulate gene expression in chemosensory neurons of Caenorhabditis elegans. Considering the diverse environmental stimuli that can activate chemosensory neurons of C. elegans, we sought to understand how specific transcriptional responses can be generated in these neurons in response to distinct cues. We have focused on the mechanism of rapid ( less then 6 min) and selective transcriptional induction of daf-7, a gene encoding a TGF-β ligand, in the ASJ chemosensory neurons in response to the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. DAF-7 is required for the protective behavioral avoidance of P. aeruginosa by C. elegans. Here, we define the involvement of two distinct cyclic GMP (cGMP)-dependent pathways that are required for daf-7 expression in the ASJ neuron pair in response to P. aeruginosa. We show that a calcium-independent pathway dependent on the cGMP-dependent protein kinase G (PKG) EGL-4, and a canonical calcium-dependent signaling pathway dependent on the activity of a cyclic nucleotide-gated channel subunit CNG-2, function in parallel to activate rapid, selective transcription of daf-7 in response to P. aeruginosa metabolites. Our data suggest that fast, selective early transcription of neuronal genes require PKG in shaping responses to distinct microbial stimuli in a pair of C. elegans chemosensory neurons.